{"id":5682,"date":"2025-04-05T20:30:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-05T19:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/?p=5682"},"modified":"2025-04-06T14:38:27","modified_gmt":"2025-04-06T13:38:27","slug":"gaethje-on-makhachevs-radar-daniel-cormier-reveals-the-likely-next-opponent-for-the-lightweight-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/gaethje-on-makhachevs-radar-daniel-cormier-reveals-the-likely-next-opponent-for-the-lightweight-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaethje on Makhachev&#8217;s Radar: Daniel Cormier Reveals the Likely Next Opponent for the Lightweight Champion!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"238\" data-end=\"476\">In the ever-evolving UFC lightweight division, all eyes are now on Islam Makhachev\u2019s next move \u2014 and according to former champion and current commentator Daniel Cormier, the next big challenge may come from none other than Justin Gaethje.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"478\" data-end=\"716\">Following Makhachev\u2019s successful title defense against Renato Moicano, speculation quickly spread about who might be next. While Ilia Topuria\u2019s name surfaced in rumors, Cormier believes there\u2019s a more prominent candidate ready to step up.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Daniel Cormier Believes Justin Gaethje Will Be Islam Makhachev Next Opponent\u203c\ufe0f #ufc #mma #mmanews\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NQvMzhRZGo4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"718\" data-end=\"764\">Cormier Rules Out Tsarukyan\u2026 Picks Gaethje<\/h3>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"766\" data-end=\"977\">On his podcast <em data-start=\"781\" data-end=\"804\">&#8220;Funky and the Champ&#8221;<\/em> with Ben Askren, Cormier explained that Arman Tsarukyan\u2019s withdrawal from UFC 311 likely cost him a title shot \u2014 and paved the way for Gaethje to rise as the top contender.<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"979\" data-end=\"1187\">\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"981\" data-end=\"1187\">\u201cI honestly believe Gaethje is the one who will get the fight. If I\u2019m in Makhachev\u2019s team, I\u2019d want Justin Gaethje \u2014 it\u2019s a legacy fight. He\u2019s a respected fighter. I truly think this is the next big match.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3 class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"1189\" data-end=\"1216\">Third Time\u2019s the Charm?<\/h3>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"1218\" data-end=\"1487\">If this fight materializes, it will be Gaethje\u2019s third attempt at the undisputed UFC lightweight belt, after past losses to Khabib Nurmagomedov and Charles Oliveira. But with a dominant win over Rafael Fiziev at UFC 313, he\u2019s proven that he still has championship fire.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"1489\" data-end=\"1513\">Elite Showdown Ahead<\/h3>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"1515\" data-end=\"1792\">A clash between Makhachev and Gaethje would represent more than a title defense. It would be a collision of styles: the iron discipline of Dagestan versus the unrelenting firepower of an American warrior. Should this happen, the lightweight crown could gain even more prestige.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"1794\" data-end=\"1866\">Will it finally be Gaethje\u2019s time? Or will Makhachev continue his reign?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the ever-evolving UFC lightweight division, all eyes are now on Islam Makhachev\u2019s next move \u2014 and according to former champion and current commentator Daniel Cormier, the next big challenge may come from none other than Justin Gaethje. Following Makhachev\u2019s successful title defense against Renato Moicano, speculation quickly spread about who might be next. While [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,86,21,91],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"category-mma-video","9":"category-ufc-news","10":"category-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5682"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5682"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5684,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5682\/revisions\/5684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}